How much should I be expecting to pay for a logo?

While looking up some information to show a potential new client regarding average logo prices I found a reply to a post on a business forum that actually proved rather useful. Because I could see it being so useful to anyone looking to get design work done (specifically a logo), I thought I’d post the reply here to help out anyone wondering the same thing.

The cost of high quality logo design can vary immensely; the amount you will pay hugely varies depending on factors such as;

Whether the designer is a freelancer working at home with low overheads, or a large company with offices and staff. The higher the companies overheads; it’s likely that the design fees for the same standard of work will be higher to cover their costs.

Whether your designer is ‘renowned’ or not; popular designers/design firms who have high profile corporate clients will charge a lot more for their services; simply because they are in high demand and can do so.

It’s rather like paying more for Heinz Baked Beans as opposed to paying for Tesco’s Own Brand Baked Beans. Tesco’s own brand may taste pretty much the same, but not being ‘brand name’ beans they are cheaper.

How experienced your designer is; not all designers are equal. A designer with many years experience under their belt is likely to offer you more than just good design. They are likely to be able to offer you good advice, have slicker well oiled administration processes that may result in better customer service, and understand all the pitfalls to avoid that less experienced designers may unwittingly overlook.

Integrity; see the above point, again not all designers are equal; The design world is littered with designers who seem to be able to churn out excellent designs at break neck speed at a low price. This allows them to make a good profit because the designs are produced quickly, and you to benefit from great design.

Until you find out two years later that the brand you’ve based your business around is a rip-off of someone else’s brand design.

Copyright theft is rife, be sure that you use a reputable designer if you want to avoid paying legal damages at a later date, let alone the cost of rebuildig your company image from the ground up again.

Price Guide

I would say as a rough guide that if you are spending less than say £200.00 on 2-3 design concepts, you are likely to receive something that is either poor quality (ever heard the phrase pay cheap, pay twice?) or something that is a copy of another design.

The only exception being if you so happy to be very lucky to find a very talented new designer just starting out on their freelance career who is offering designs at a low cost to build their portfolio. This does happen ‘sometimes’, but low customer service standards and errors due to lack of experience can be a risk factor.

To achieve a high quality design and good customer service, for a small business owner I’d recommend spending somewhere between £300 and £500 to receive around 2-4 concepts depending on the provider.

Don’t waste money on providers who want to show you 6-10 different logo design concepts.

A high quality logo designer should be able to achieve the right brand image for your company within the first three attempts if they have asked the right questions at the outset of the project.

Therefore to perceive for instance that if it is fair to pay £300 for three concepts, that it must be good value for money to pay £500 for six concepts isn’t entirely accurate, because if you’ve found a good designer it’s very unlikely it would take them six concepts to get it right.

A good designer should be able to save you money by meeting your design brief as swiftly as possible.

What if you don’t like what they have produced?

Again, if selecting a high quality designer, who has a portfolio you admire, it’s very unlikely they won’t be able to satisfy your brief.

Terms and conditions vary from design firm to design firm; some designers will offer a satisfaction guarantee; ie you don’t pay unless you are happy with the designs provided, and some will not offer any such guarantee.

Freelance designer passionate in all forms of design. Throughout recent years I have worked in both a leading Chelmsford design agency and independently for varied clients around the world mainly specialising in branding, print and front end web design.